Virginia Township

Virginia Township

ONE-HALF of this township, the first and third, or northeast and southwest quarters, was congress land. The second and fourth, or northwest and southeast quarters, are two military sections. The congress land was surveyed in 1803, by John Matthews. The northwest quarter, or second military section, was surveyed into forty 100-acre lots by Wilham Harris, in the year 1811. The fourth quarter, or southeast section, was located by John A. Hardenbrook, a merchant of JSTew York City, his patent for the land bearing date June 23, 1800. He sold it to Edward Mc- Carty, Sr., of Paddy town, Hampshire county, Virginia, July 16, 1812, for $4,045, or one dollar per acre. It has since been surveyed into thirtyfive lots, ranging from 100 to 200 acres each and variously disposed of.

This territory belonged'to Jefferson township, Muskingum county, prior to the formation of Coshocton county. It then became a part of Washington township, and so continued until 1828, when it was organized as a separate township with its present boundaries. It was named Virginia after the State from which most of the early settlers had come.

The Ohio canal and the Pittsburgh, Cincinnati and St. Louis railroad crossjiiagonally through the southeastern corner of the township. The Muskingum river winds around this corner, as if avoiding the township, but from the south makes a small bend into the township, separating about twenty-five acres from the main part of it. Mill fork, with its numerous tributaries, drain the greater part of the surface. It enters the northeastern part of the township from Jackson, and crosses into Washington township in the southwest. The soil along this creek and on many of

-the hills, is a limestone clay. Further to the «ast it is sandy.~ White oak is the prevailing timber, interspersed with other varieties, such as "hickory, walnut, sugar, etc. The hilliest region is in the northern part. Toward the south the Toughness breaks away, giving a more undulating .appearance to the surface. In the southeastern portion of the township along the valley of the Muskingum, occurs " the plains,'' as it is called, a level stretch of country a mile or two in length, which was covered only with red brush when first seen by the settlers. It was then thought to be worthless for agricultural purposes, and could "have been purchased for fifty cents per acre. It is now very valuable. On these plains were found a few small mounds, but they are no longer visible. It was probably a favorite haunt of the red man. Doughty, a noted Indian, had a lone camp on Mill fork, on the northwest quarter of section 16. Here he lived for a while with his wife and -daughter, a young girl of great beauty, but being of a vagrant disposition, he never remained long in one place.

John Collins was the first white settler in the township, entering it about 1804 He was not a permanent settler, however, and did not own the land upon which he lived, the southwest quarter of section 16. It was owned by Lewis Cass, who afterward sold it to John Graves. Collins left the place about 1808, and removed several miles below Dresden. He had been I revolutionary soldier, and was wounded while in service. He came here from the south branch of the Potomac, in Virginia.

The earhest settlements were made along the narrow valley of Mill fork, beginning where the ^stream leaves the township, and continuing up the valley nearly to its source. Cabins were dotted all along this little stream before settlements were made in other parts of the township. Kichard Tilton was the first settler properly so caUed. He was born at Bed Stone Fort, near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in 1774, at a time when the region thereabouts was embroiled with a fierce Indian war. When a boy, he was captured by the Indians on Short creek, Jefiferson county, Ohio. His home at the time was in Pennsylvania, -and he had crossed the Ohio to dig ginseng root, an article of great commercial value, which grew there in rich profusion. He was taken to Sandusky, and remained a prisoner there six weeks, when he was released. He came to this county in the spring of 1805; settling first in Washington township; but in the fall of the same year he moved to the northeast quarter of section 16, of this township. At this time he had four children, John, William, Elijah and Joseph. William and Elijah afterward moved to Illinois ; John died in early life, and Joseph still lives in this township. Mr. Tilton was a justice of the peace for eighteen years. His wife died a few years after he settled here, and he afterwards remarried and had a large family. In 1850 he- removed to Ogle county, Illinois, where he died fifteen years later, at the age of ninety-one years.

Joseph Wright and Joseph McCoy came together into the township, December 24, 1806. Mr. McCoy settled upon the southwest quarter of section twenty-five - the southwest corner of the township - where he lived until he died. Joseph Wright was his son-in-law, and had one child, Willis, when he came to the county, who is now a resident of Coshocton. Both were from Virginia. Mr. Wright lived with his father-in-law' one year, then moved further up the creek to lot 3, where he lived during the remainder of his life. Probably no one in the township was more prominent than he. He died April 1, 1867, at the age of eighty-seven years.

James Norris, also from Virginia, came in 1807, and settled upon the southwest quarter of section 14. The next year his brothers, Joseph, Daniel and William, and his father, William Norris moved out. The latter settled upon the southeast quarter of section 14. Joseph occupied lot 16, just above. Joseph and James had married sisters of Joseph Wright, in Virginia. Daniel and William, Jr., married daughters of Joseph McCoy. These three families, the Wrights, Norrises and McCoys, have intermarried in this township to a considerable extent, so as to render it impossible to determine the various relationships. Each member of each of these families in fact, sustains a number of relationships to each and every other member of the three families. The families are still numerously represented in the township. William Norris, Sr., was a soldier in the revolutionary war.

Henry Slaughter settled on the northeast quarter of section 8, in 1812. He died in 1858 in his eighty-seventh year. Alexander and Dr. James Slaughter are his sons. Patrick Miller, son of Michael Miller, of Franklin township, lived a while upon the McCarty-eection, then returned to Franklin township. Mr. McCarty was his uncle. Joseph "Wagner, from Huntington county, Pennsylvania, settled in the western part of the township in 1810. He died in 1857 at the age of seventy-five years. Beall Adams, in 1812, settled upon the east half of section 25. He died at an advanced age some years ago. John and Joseph Graves, two brothers, emigrated to the township from Virginia, in 1814.

The township settled up very slowly. In 1821, Otho Miller was living upon the southwest quarter of section 2, and at that time there were no settlers between his cabin and Roscoe. Joseph Ogle, from Maryland, was a comparatively early setller; also, Joseph Mossman, aa Irishman. Joseph Thompson, who had been a drummer in the revolutionary war, came to the township from Bridgeport, Ohio, about 1826, and spent his 'declining years here. He was originally from New York.

Matthew Scott was born in county Donegal, Ireland, in 1795. He came to America in 1816, but lived at Cumberland, Maryland, until 1833, when he came to Coshocton county, settling in Virginia township, near Adam's mills. As the owner and cultivator of a considerable body of land, as a man of diligence and integrity, of more than ordinary intelligence, and of fair education, Mr. Scott was long held in repute in the region where he dwelt. As an enthusiastic son of Erin, and a most earnest and liberal adherent of the Presbyterian church, he was known by thousands. In 1856, he made a visit to the old land. He was for several years a director of the Western Theological Seminary at Pittsburgh. He was a member of the general assembly of the Presbyterian church, meeting in Peoria, Illinois, 1863. He was always a warm friend of the colored people, and was chiefly instrumental in establishing a school for the education of colored girls, called " Scotia Seminary," in North Carolina. Having no children, and his wife having died before him, he gave almost his whole estate - of some $25,000

- for educational, missionary, and other benevolent purposes in connection withttie Presbyterian church, a large part going to the support of the little church in which he had long been an elder^ and in which his kindred hold yet a large place. For some time before his death, Mr. Scott had been in x>oor health. Early on the morning of the 13th of September, 1872, the family of the brother, with whom he had been staying for some days, were alarmed by his absence from the house and the appearance of his forsaken bed-room, and, search having been made, his dead body wasfound, after some hours, in the Muskingum river,, which flowed through his lands.

The first church in the township, and one of the earliest in the county, was erected by a Baptist society in 1816 or 1818, on the southwest quarter of section 16. Elder Amos Mix, whohad been a revolutionary soldier, and was living on the school lots in Muskingum county, was thefirst minister. Among its earliest members werethe McCoys, James and Wilhara Norris, Henry Slaughter, and quite a number from Muskingum county. It did not survive, perhaps, more than ten or twelve years, for about 1830 there was a society of Baptists, including most of the names mentioned above, worshiping in the Union meeting-house (so called from the fact that it was builtby the people in common for the use of all congregations), located on lot 14. About 1837 anotlier society was organized at Henry Slaughter's house, by Elders William Mears and William Spencer. These two congregations were united under a new organization May 1, 1840, by Elders William Mears and L. Gilbert, with fifty-two , members, and named Mill Fork Regular Baptist church. After the organization the church grew rapidly, and in a few years had over 100 members. Having reached a membership of 140, the number decreased, and at present it has about eighty-five. Since 1850 this church has sent four of its members into the ministry, viz.- J. W. Reed, E. B. Senter, P. C. Wright and A. W. Odor. The present pastor is Elder Lyman R. Mears, the grand-son of the first minister. The ministers who have served as pastors of this church from its organization are as follows : Wilham Mears, L. Gilbert, T. W. Grier, L. L. Root,.

J. G. Whitaker, E. K. Whitaker, T. Evans, E. Smith, A. W. Odor, J. C. Skinner, S. C. Tussing. The house of worship, a commodious frame, erected in 1870, stands on lot 3,' not a great distance from the center of the township.

About two miles northeast of this church, on the same road, stands Christian Chapel, a house of belonging to a Christian congregation. It was organized with five members, in 1832, by Elder J. W. Marvin, of Knox county, Ohio. These five members were John Housare, Margaret Housare, Mary Housare, Elizabeth Wright .and Miss Adams. They first met in Willis' Wright's barn; then in the adjoining schoolhouse. In 1844, a frame meeting-house, twenty- by thirty -two feet, was erected, which, in 1878, was replaced by a better and larger house of worship, at a cost of f2,000. The pastors of the church have been J. W. Marvin, James Hays, William Bagley, Jacob Hanger, A. C. Hanger, A. Bradfield, B. Rabb, William Overturf, M. M. Lohr, E. Peters and John W. Wright. A. C. Hanger is now in charge. The present membership is 145. The total enrollment of members during the church's history is 300. A Sunday-school has been held from a very early date, during the summer. William McCan had charge of the school, in 1880, when it had an average attendance of about sixtji.

The Moscow Methodist Episcopal church was organized about 1835, by Eev. Joseph McDowell, at the house of Joseph Wagner, on section 16. Its principal early members were Kev. John Cullison and wife, Joseph Wagner and family, Benjamin Howall, the first class-leader, and wife, Eev. Thomas Perkins and wife, Mrs. Gordon and others, amounting to about twenty in all. The meetings were held at different dwelling-houses, and, for a time, in a little log-house in Moscow, until 1851, when the present frame church, thirty by forty, was erected, at an expense of $650, under the pastorate of Eev. T. H. Wilson. A few years ago, it was repaired, at about twice its original cost. The membership now is about sixty. The present pastor is Eev. Jones. A Sunday-school is a leading feature of the church work.

The Methodist denomination has also a flourishing congregation in the southern part of the township of recent organization. - The church building, a substantial frame, was erected in. 1876, at a cost of about $1,800. It was dedicated December 10, of the same year, by Eev. T. H. Wilson. The society had been organized several years before the churchi was built, the meetings haying been held in a school-house. Joseph Balo and wife, David Balo and wife, Joseph Tilton and Joseph Newcomb, were early members. The latter was the first class-leader. Eev. Basil Disney was the first minister, followed by Henry Whiteman. He was succeeded by Eev. Ashbaugh, during whose ministry the church was built. The membership is between fifty and sixty.

The earliest settlers sent their children to school in Muskingum county, which was settled and contained schools before Virginia had a sufficient number of families to support a school. The first building for school purposes in the township was erected about 1818, in the western part of the township, near the northeast corner of the southeast quarter of section 15. It is described by the oldest resident of the township as having been a mere shanty, scarcely more than fourteen by sixteen feet in size. A puncheon floor was laid in a part of this room, one end being left bare for a large fireplace. A rough back-wall of stone was built to keep the flames from the end of the building, and a large opening through the roof was an ample provision for the escape of smoke and thorough ventilation of the room. Eichard Winn was the first teacher. He was from Pennsylvania, and had settled in Washington township.

The water power on Mill Fork was sufficient, while the country was yet covered with timber, to propel the different mills that were situated on its banks, but as the volume of water decreased, in course of time the mills were one by one abandoned or removed. Joseph Norris erected one upon his place in very early times. It had in it two run of stone and was counted an excellent mill. He afterward erected two distilleries, one adjacent to the mill, the other some distance away, though on the same farm. In one of these two stills were operated, the other contained only one. They were haunted by a number of professional loafers, constantly engaged in " sampling" the juice as it issued from the worm and pronouncing upon its good qualities. What remained after this important function was performed found a market in Coshocton and the surrounding country.

Hiram Darr erected a saw-mill a short distance above, in section 8 about 1840, and directly afterward built a grist-mill, containing one run of buhrs. It did a flourishing business while it lasted, which was no great length of time. Mr. Darr moved to Livingston county, Missouri, and shipped the mill-stones to the same place. Joseph Parks ran a saw-mill for a number of years near the northwest corner of the township. Another was afterward built in the same locality. Kichard Tilton built one shortly before he moved west, but little or no work was ever done at it.

Moscow, the one little village in the township, is situated on lot 20 in the northwestern part of the township. It was laid out in March, 1835, by Lewis Wright, and consisted of 42 lots. Mr. Wright was both the surveyor and proprietor of the village. John T. Bowen kept the first store. It carried a very limited stock of goods, and Bowen retained possession of it as the only store until he enlisted in the service during the late war. Samuel Smailes started the next store soon after the war, and stills owns it. Shortly after another was opened by Henry H. Mills, who retired from the business about five years ago. Mr. Hook has recently started a small store. The village is quite small. John Bowen was the first postmaster. The position is now held by his widow, Mrs. Kachel Bowen.

Willow Brook is the name of a postoffice in the northeastern part of the township. A store was opened here in the spring of 1873 by William Wright. In August, 1879, he sold it to H. M. Kendall, who now owns it. A blacksmith shop, owned by Lewis A. Eeed, and a wagon shop, owned by Thomas J. daughter, are also located here. William Wright was the first postmaster, receiving the appointment about seven years ago. He was succeeded by Mr. Kendall.

Source changes here: from History of Coshocton County, Ohio;, by Hill, Norman Newell, Jr., [from Old Catalog] Comp, published 1881; 2,929 words in this source stream.

Virginia Township

ONE-HALF of this township, the first and third, or northeast and southwest quarters, was congress land. The second and fourth, or northwest and southeast quarters, are two military sections. The congress land was surveyed in 1803, by John Matthews. The northwest quarter, or second military section, was surveyed into forty 100-acre lots by William Harris, in the year 1811. The fourth quarter, or southeast section, was located by John A. Hardenbrook, a merchant of New York City, his patent for the land bearing date June 23, 1800. He sold it to Edward Mc- Carty, Sr., of Paddytown, Hampshire county, Virginia, July 16, 1812, for $4,045, or one dollar per acre. It has since been survej-ed into thirtyfive lots, ranging from 100 to 200 acres each and variously disposed of.

This territory belonged to Jefferson township, Muskingum county, prior to the formation of Coshocton county. It then became a part of Washington township, and so continued until 1828, when it was organized as a separate township with its present boundaries. It was named Virginia after the State from which most of the early settlers had come.

The Ohio canal and the Pittsburgh, Cincinnati and St. Louis railroad cross diagonally through the southeastern corner of the township. The Muskingum river winds around this corner, as if avoiding the township, but from the south makes a small bend into the township, separating about twenty-five acres from the main part of it. Mill fork, with its numerous tributaries, drain the greater part of the surface. It enters the northeastern part of the township from Jackson, and crosses into Washington township in the southwest. The soil along this creek and on many of the hills, is a limestone clay. Further to the -east it is sandy. White oak is the prevailing timber, interspersed with other varieties, such as hickory, walnut, sugar, etc. The hilliest region is in the northern part. Toward the south the roughness breaks away, giving a more undulating aiipoarance to the surface. In the southeastern portion of the township along the valley of the Muskingum, occurs " the plains," as it is called, a level stretch of country a mile or two in length, which was covered only with red brush when first seen by the settlers It was then thought to be worthless for agricultural purposes, and could have been purchased for fifty cents per acre. It is now very valuable. On these plains were found a few small mounds, but they are no longer visible. It was probably a favorite haunt of the red man. Doughty, a noted Indian, h;ul a lone camp on Mill fork, on the northwest quarter ^f section 16. Here he lived for a while with his wife and daughter, a young girl of great beauty, but being of a vagrant disposition, he never remained long in one place.

John Collins was the first white settler in the township, entering it about 1804. He was not a permanent settler, however, and did not own the land upon which he lived, the southwest quarter of section 16. It was owned by Lewis Cass, who afterward sold it to John Graves. Collins left the place about 1808, and removed several miles below Dresden. He had been a revolutionary soldier, and was wounded while in service. He came here from the south branch of the Potomac, in Virginia.

The earliest settlements were made along the narrow valley of Mill fork, beginning where the stream leaves the town.ship, and continuing up the valley nearh- to its source. Cabins were dotted all along this little stream before settlements were made in other parts of the township. Richard Tilton was the first settler properly so called. He was born at Red Stone Fort, near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in 1774, at a time when the region thereabouts was embroiled with a fierce Indian war. When a boy, he was captured by the Indians on Short creek, Jeflerson county, Ohio. His home at the time was in Pennsylvania, and he had crossed the Ohio to dig ginseng root, an article of great commercial value, which grew there in rich profusion. He was taken to Sandusky, and remained a prisoner there six weeks, when* he was released. He came to this county in the spring of 180.5, settling first in Washington township; but in the fall of the same year he moved to the northeast quarter of section 16, of this township. At this time he had four children, John, William, Elijah and Joseph. William and Elijah afterward moved to Elinois; John died in early life, and Joseph still lives in this township. Mr. Tilton was a justice of the / peace for eighteen years. His wife died a few years after he settled here, and he afterwards remarried and had a large family. In 1850 he removed to Ogle county, Illinois, where he died fifteen years later, at the age of ninety-one years, /

Joseph Wright and Joseph McCoy came together into the township, December 24, 1806. Mr. McCoy settled upon the southwest quarter of section twenty-five - the southwest co-ner of the township - where he lived until he died. Joseph Wright was his son-in-law, and had one child, Willis, when he came to the county, who is now a resident of Coshocton. Both were from Virginia. Mr. Wright lived with his father-in-law one year, then moved further up the creek to lot 3, where he lived during the remainder of his life. Probably no one in the township was more prominent than he. He died Ajjril 1, 1867, at the age of eighty-seven years.

James Norris, also from Virginia, came in 1807, and settled upon the southwest quarter of section 14. The next year his brothers, Joseph, Daniel and William, and his father, William Norris moved out. The latter settled upon the southeast quarter of section 14. Joseph occupied lot 16, just above. Joseph and James had married sisters of Joseph Wright, in Virginia. Daniel and William, Jr., married daughters of Joseph McCoy. These three families, the Wrights, Norrises and McCoys, have intermarried in this township to a considerable extent, so as to render it impossible to determine the various relationships. Each member of each of these families in fact, sustains a number of relationships to each and every other member of the three families. The families are still numerously represented in ' the township William Norris, Sr., was a soldie^ ' ' in the revolutionarv war.

Henry Slaughter settled on the northeast quarter of section 8, in 1812. He died in 1858 in his eighty-seventh year. Alexander and Dr. James Slaughter are his sons. Patrick Miller, son of Michael Miller, of Franklin township, lived a while upon the McCarty section, then returned to Franklin township. Mr. McCarty was his uncle. Joseph Wagner, from Huntington county, Pennsylvania, settled in the western part of the township in 1810. He died in 1857 at the age of seventy-five years. Beall Adams, in 1812, settled upon the east half of section 25. He died at an advanced age some years ago. John and Joseph Graves, two brothers, emigrated to the township from Virginia, in 1814.

The township settled up very slowly. In 1821, Otho Miller was living upon the southwest quarter of section 2, and at that time there were no settlers between his cabin and Roscoe. Joseph Ogle, from Maryland, was a comparatively early settler ; also, Joseph Mossman, an Irishman. Joseph Thompson, who had been a drummer in the revolutionary war, came to the township from Bridgeport, Ohio, about 1826, and spent his declining years here. He was originally from New York.

Matthew Scott was born in county Donegal, Ireland, in 1795. He came to America in 1816, but lived at Cumberland, Maryland, until 1833, when he came to Coshocton county, settling in Virginia township, near Adam's mills. As the owner and cultivator of a considerable body of land, as a man of diligence and integrity, of more than ordinary intelligence, and of fair education, Mr. Scott was long held in repute in the region where he dwelt. As an enthusiastic son of Erin, and a most earnest and liberal adherent of the Presbyterian church, he wiis known by thousands. In 1856, he made a visit to the old land. He was for several years a director of the Western Theological Seminary at Pittsburgh. He was a member of the general assembly of the Presbyterian church, meeting in Peoria, Illinois, 1863. He was always a warm friend of the colored people, and was chiefly instrumental in establishing a school for the education of colored girls, called "Scotia Seminary," in North Carolina. Having 010 children, and his wife having died before him, he gave almost his whole estate - of some $25,000

- for educational, missionary, and other benevolent purposes in connection with the Presbyterian church, a large part going to the support of the little church in which he had long been an elder,, and in which his kindred hold yet a large place. For some time before his death, jNIr. Scott had been in poor health. Early on the morning of the 13th of September, 1872, the family of the brother, with whom he had been staying for some days, were alarmed by his absence from the house and the appearance of his forsaken bed-room, and, search having been made, his dead body was found, after some hours, in the Muskingum river, which flowed through his lands.

The first church in the township, and one of the earliest in the coimty, was erected by a Baptist society in 1816 or 1818, on the southwest quarter -i section 16. Elder Amos Mi.x, who had been a revolutionary soldier, and was living on the school lots in Muskinguni county, was the first minister. Among its earliest members were the McCoys, James and William Norris, Henry Slaughter, and quite a number from Muskingum county. It did not survive, perhaps, more than ten or twelve years, for about 1830 there was a society of Baptists, including most of the names mentioned above, worshiping in the Union meeting-house (so called from the fact that it was built by the people in common for the use of all congregations), located on lot 14. About 1837 another society was organized at Henry Slaughter's house, by Elders William Mears and William Spencer. These two congregations were united under a new organization May 1, 1840, by Elders William Mears and L. Gilbert, with fifty-twO' members, and named Mill Fork Regular Baptist church. After the organization the church grew rajiidl^i', and in a few years had over ItX) members. Having reached a membership of 140, the number -decreased, and at present it has about eighty-five. Since 1850 this church has sent four of its members into the ministry, viz : J. W. Reed, E. B. Senter, F. C. Wright and A. W. Odor. The present pastor is Elder Lyman R. Jlears, the grand-son of the first minister. The ministers who have served as pastors of this church from its organization are as follows : William Mears, L. Gilbert, T. W. Grier, L. L. Root,

About two miles northeast of thi.s church, on the same road, stands Christian Chapel, a liouse of worship belonging to a Christian congrei^ation It Wits organized with five members, in 1832, by Elder J. W. Marvin, of Knox county, Ohio. These five members were John Housare, Margaret Housare, Mary Housare, Elizabetli Wright and Miss Adams. They first met in Willis Wright's barn; then in the adjoining schoolhouse. In 1844, a frame meeting-house, twenty- by thirty-two feet, was erected, which, in 1873, was replaced by a better and larger house worship, at a cost of $2,000. The pastors of the church have been J. W. Marvin, James Hays, William Bagley, Jacob Hanger, A. C. Hanger, A. B^adfield, B. Rabb, William Overturf, M. M. Lohr, E. Peters and John W. Wright. A. C. Hanger is now in charge. The present membership is 145. The total enrollment of members during the churchs history is 300. A Sunday-school has been held from a very early date, during the summer. William McCan had of the school, in 1880, when it had an .average attendance of about sixty.

The Moscow Methodist Episcopal church was -organized about 1835, by Rev. Joseph McDowell, at the house of Joseph Wagner, on section 16. Its principal early members were Rev. John Cullison and wife, Joseph Wagner and family, Benjamin Howall, the* first class-leader, and wife. Rev. Thomas Perkins and wife, Mrs. Gordon and others, amounting to about twenty in all. The meetings were held at difi'erent dwelling-houses, and, for a time, in a little log-house in Moscow, imtil 1851, when the present frame church, thirty by forty, was erected, at an expense of $650, under the pastorate of Rev. T. H. Wilson. A few years ago, it was repaired, at about twice its original cost. The membership now is about sixty. The present pastor is Rev. Jones. A Sunday-school is a leading feature of the church work.

Tiie Methodist denomination has also a flourishing congregation in the southern part of the town-ship of recent organization. The church building, a substantial frame, was erected in 1876, at a cost of about $1,800. It was dedicated December 10, of the same year, by Rev. T. H. Wilson. The society had been organized several years before the church was built, the meetings having been held in a school-house. Joseph Balo and wife, David Balo and wife, Joseph Tilton and Joseph Newcomb, were early members. The latter was the first class-leader. Rev. Basil Disney w'as the first minister, followed by Henrj' Whiteman. He was succeeded by Rev. Ashbaugh, during whose ministry the church w;is built. The membership is between fifty and sixty.

The earliest settlers sent their children to school in INIuskingum county, which was settled and contained schools before Virginia had a sufficient number of families to support a school. The first building for school purposes in the township was erected about 1818, in the western . part of the township, near the northeast corner of the southeast quarter of section 15. It is described by the oldest resident of the township as having been a mere shanty, scarcely more than fourteen by sixteen feet in size. A puncheon floor was laid in a part of this room, one end being left bare for a large fireplace. A rough back-wall of stone was built t(_) keep the flames from the end of the building, and a large opening through the roof was an ample provision for the escape of smoke and thorough ventilation of the room. Richard Winn was the first teacher. He was from Pennsylvania, and had settled in Washington township. '

The water power on Mill Fork was sufficient, while the country was yet covered with timber, to propel the different mills that were situated on its banks, but as the volume of water decreased, in course of time the mills were one by one abandoned or removed. Jo.seph Norris erected one upon his place in very carl}' times. It had in it two run of stone and was counted an excellent mill. He afterward erected two distilleries, one adjacent to the mill, the other some distance away, though on the same farm. In one of these two stills were operated, the other contained only one. They were haunted by a number of professional loafers, constantly engaged in "sampling" the juice as it issued from the worm and pronouncing upon its good qualities. What remained after this important function was performed found a market in Coshocton and the surrounding country.

Hiram Darr erected a saw-mill a short distance above, in section 8 about 1S40, and directly afterward built a grist-mill, containing one run of buhrs. It did a flourishing business while it lasted, which was no great length of time. Mr. Darr moved to Livingston county, Missouri, and shipped the mill-stones to the same place. Joseph Parks ran a saw-mill for a number of years near the northwest corner of the township. Another was afterward built in the same locality. Kichard Tilton built one shortly before he moved west, but little or no work was ever done at it.

/ Moscow, the one little village in the township, ^ is situated on lot 20 in the northwestern part of the township. It was laid out in March, 1835, by Lewis Wright, and consisted of 42 lots. Mr. Wright was both the surveyor and proprietor of the village. John T. Bowen kept the first store. It carried a very limited stock of goods, and Bowen retained possession of it as the only store until he enlisted in the service during the late war. Samuel Smailes started the next store soon after the war, and stills owns it. Shortly after another was opened by Henry H Mills, who retired from the business about five years ago. Mr. Hook has recently started a small store. The village is quite small. John Bowen was the first postmaster. The position is now lield by his widow, Mrs. Eiichel Bowen.

AVillow Brook is the name of a postoflSce in the northeastern part of the township. A store was opened here in the spring of 1873 by William Wright. In August, 1879, he sold it to H. M. Kendall, who now owns it, A blacksmith shop, owned by Lewis A. Keed, and a wagon shop, owned by Thomas J. Slaughter, are also located here. William Wright was the first postmaster, receiving tlie appointment about seven years ago. He was succeeded by Mr. Kendall.